Foreword

All four articles in this issue of Yale Studies in World Public Order concern an episode of singular importance to the constitutional law and the foreign policy of the United States: President Carter's announcements on December 15 and December 23, 1978, that on January 1, 1980, the United States would abrogate the Mutual Defense Treaty of 1954 between the United States and the Republic of China in accordance with its termination clause. The President attempted this action without seeking or obtaining the consent either of the Senate or of Congress as a whole. Later, the Senate passed a Resolution stating that under the circumstances the President could not terminate any Mutual Defense Treaty without the consent of the same two-thirds Senate majority required before the President ratifies it.